Snapshots of Atlantis
by Troglodytes
Summary: Drabble series of SGA episode tags/missing scenes. Genres and characters are for the most recent drabble only, rating for the entire series. Newest, 118: The Gift: What amazes Teyla the most is how these strange people fail to recognize their own 'super powers.'
1. Rising

**I've started rewatching Stargate Atlantis, and I've been wanting to try a drabble series. So here's the plan: directly after each episode, I'll write a drabble tag or missing scene and post it. Some might get expanded, especially if reviews request it, but I can't promise anything. These will be rough, so please don't expect them to be perfect! With luck, I'll watch an episode a day.**

**Rising is a two-parter, so double drabble it is (my word count starts after the quoted line).**

* * *

_**Rising**_

"_Doctor, this is why you brought me here."  
_

* * *

When McKay saw the Wraith's orbital Gate, his first thought (after the loss of MALP 4) was the bay of shuttles they'd found. His next thought went to Sheppard. The flyboy did have a knack for Ancient technology. Or a gene for it, to be more accurate.

The Ancient shuttle lit up as he strode in, consoles and displays responding eagerly to one born to be their master. After the Major caught on to his idea, McKay voiced his main concern.

"So we have all these ships, but I don't know how to get one to the Gate. I mean, they're obviously designed to fit through it-"

"Hatch in the floor. Goes to the Gate Room." Sheppard interrupted tersely.

McKay stood speechless for a moment. _Well, this bay is directly above, so it makes sense… _"How did you know that?"

The pilot just shrugged, his eyes slightly out of focus. The ship lifted off the ground, turning in place.

"Okay," the scientist muttered. The more he saw of Sheppard interfacing with Ancient technology, the more he wondered whether he wanted the gene after all. A computer getting in his head, in his very thoughts, might not be so appealing, really.

* * *

**How did they figure out how to get the jumper to the Gate Room, anyway? **

**Obviously, if McKay had doubts about wanting the gene, he got over them, but it seems to me that he would reconsider at some point. Control is just too important to the man for a direct mind interface not to disturb him to some degree.**

**PS: By 'drabble', I mean a story exactly 100 words long. Yes, I've used the word for longer stories before, but for this series, I'm taking the precision as a challenge. This chapter, since it's for a two-part episode, is 200 words.**


	2. Hide and Seek

_**Hide and Seek**_

"_I'm surprised you're so eager to volunteer for this, Rodney."_

"_Well, you know me. Always eager to help."_

* * *

Of all the primal fears held by humans, the fear of darkness is likely the most universal. If asked, McKay insisted that he wasn't afraid of the dark; that would be irrational. Rather, he had a healthy caution regarding muggers, wolves, or, say, falling down the stairs. Or the Wraith. The darkness was just a metaphor for all of the horrible things that can happen in the absence of light.

This darkness moved, thought, hunted, drained life from everything. McKay was afraid, and this time it was justified.

Walking into the dark, _that _was irrational. But he did it anyway.

* * *

**McKay is my favorite Atlantis character, so there's a good chance that most of these drabbles will be from his point of view. Just fair warning.**


	3. Thirty eight Minutes

_**Thirty-eight Minutes**_

"_Anyone else claustrophobic or is it, ah, just me?"_

* * *

Thirty-eight. 38. It's an odd number.

Not literally. Thirty-eight is even, can be factored into 2*19, square root is 6.164414…

But that's not the point. The point is that that seemingly random number is the only number which matters. Thirty-eight minutes to live. Ideally, it's time to find a way not to die, but McKay's brain knows the odds just a bit too well.

So he curses, and he works, wishing he could ignore the screams and muffled whimpers coming from the back of the cabin.

Either he fails, and they all die, or he succeeds, and Sheppard dies anyway.

* * *

**Because McKay is nothing if not an optimist, right? Right? *crickets chirping***


	4. Suspicion

_**Suspicion**_

"_A moment ago, we were going _[to go] _surfing."_

"_Well, that was after we checked for monsters and… bugs…"_

* * *

Sheppard never liked mosquitoes. Not that anyone did, really. But, in the past, he'd never been afraid of spiders, beetles, and so on. As long as they stayed out of his hair (and his food), bugs were no big deal. Since then, he'd changed his mind on the subject.

Not hard to guess why.

It just drove home how strange this galaxy could be. Not that long ago, John considered himself stuck in Antarctica, shuttling enigmatic generals back and forth to secret bases. The lack of scenery was oddly peaceful after a while.

The Pegasus Galaxy is anything but peaceful.

* * *

**Hey, look, it's not a McKay drabble! I'd be more wary of bugs, too, if I were John.**


	5. Childhood's End

_**Childhood's End**_

"_Nice landing, sir."_

"_Thank you."_

* * *

It's an old theory of his that you never really know how to pilot something until you crash it.

Granted, his superiors in the Air Force never appreciated his theory, since it involved damage to extremely expensive aircraft. John tried to point out that he never crashed anything _on purpose_.

Sheppard wondered how puddlejumpers would handle in an, ahem, 'emergency landing scenario'. The Bug Incident didn't count, not because they were in orbit, but because the Major wasn't piloting at the time.

It turned out crashing wasn't the problem. Getting the jumper back into the air, on the other hand…


	6. Poisoning the Well

_**Poisoning the Well**_

"_You guys do have names, right? Let me guess. Steve?"_

"_I am your death. That is all you need to know."_

"_I prefer Steve."_

* * *

Soon after that first mission to a Hive, Sheppard found himself at a not-altogether-surprising conclusion. His inspiration included too much of Weir's wine, but the thought remained from that point forward, at the back of his mind:

_I would rather die than become Wraith food._

Another thought lingered alongside that one, usually ignored:

_If it ever comes to that, I probably won't have a choice._

Because if the Major was ever in a cell, he'd try to break out. He'd fight them to the last moment. Still, he knows that a Wraith will kill him.

Death is nameless. Steve isn't.

* * *

**This episode was begging for a Carson-centric drabble, but this quote caught my attention first, so John it is.**


	7. Underground

_**Underground**_

"_You dress as they do of your own accord?"_

"_Of course. Why?"_

* * *

During her introduction to Atlanteans, Tayla noticed their clothing. Athosians care little about the appearance of clothing they make. These men all dressed the same. She did not wish to imagine the tedium of sewing so many jackets exactly alike!

In time, she came to notice the subtle differences. Tayla learned these quickly, as the Atlaneans placed great importance on the groupings implied by their chosen colors. Darker marked soldiers, and the lighter, scientists. Other colors told more.

She is not a scientist or a soldier. And so Tayla asked to share Weir's colors, as they had that in common.

* * *

**Surprise, surprise, it's a Tayla drabble! Something about these lines made me think on uniforms for the rest of the episode. Yes, my first drabble focused on the woman of the team and it's about clothes. Very stereotypical, I know. Not the best ending, either, but it's 100 words, and I'm still learning to work with that.**


	8. Home

_**Home**_

"_These results don't just say that the ZPM won't work; they say that this world isn't governed by any natural laws. It's like looking through a microscope at a cell culture and seeing a thousand dancing hamsters! It's impossible!"_

* * *

Not until later, after returning to Atlantis and comparing stories with Sheppard, did McKay realize how blind he'd been. Burnette catsitter aside, Rodney _knew _that he'd tided up his flat before leaving on the Expedition. Just in case he never came back, he didn't want some random grunts messing with his stuff.

But no, he was greeted by the comfortable mess of home, the relaxing disorganization he never let anyone see, fresh food even waiting for him on the couch.

Apparently Sheppard figured it out in record time. _It must be because he had Tayla with him. Yeah, that's it._

* * *

**Aaaand I'm back to McKay. I love how, of all of them, he's the only one who didn't notice the people being wrong. It's just so perfectly **_**him**_**. The Mist resorted to 'because I say so' to keep him on Earth. Why they didn't just let his illusion take him back to Pegasus, I don't know.**

**I cannot believe that McKay wouldn't have gotten insecure over the mention of John being "uniquely capable of manipulating his own fabricated reality." It's one of the more obvious 'John's not really an idiot' signs early on.**


	9. The Storm & The Eye

_**The Storm & The Eye**_

* * *

"_Life signs detector." -Ford_

"_These wee dots don't tell us much about who's who. How do we tell which one's the Major?" -Beckett_

"_He'll be the dot getting rid of the other dots." -Ford_

* * *

"_What kind of a plan is that?" -Beckett_

_"A Rodney McKay kind of plan." -Sheppard_

* * *

What would McKay do?

That's the question, the burning question (or is it the drowning one?). Right now, Rodney's probably screaming, possibly crying, over Weir's body.

_Oh, God._ _Elizabeth's dead._ Sheppard still can't quite grasp it. Only one thought: killing Kolya.

What would McKay do?

Because John can't think straight right now, so he has to be McKay, has to come up with an answer, a plan, even if it's flawed or crazy or suicidal. The Major wants to continue Genii hunting, but that won't really help. Anything he does will most likely get Rodney killed. Hell, they're all probably going to die anyway, no matter what he does.

_Might as well be efficient about it_, says McKay's voice in his head.

If Rodney were given a hypothetical question, in a calm setting, when he's being honest, he'd rather let Kolya kill him than give Atlantis to the Genii. But if that bastard starts waving knives in his face, he'll cave, and Sheppard knows it. It's unreasonable to expect the scientist to stand up to torture when the man can't even bluff at the poker table.

What would McKay do?

Something clever. Something annoying. Something unexpected.

_Take out the generators!_

* * *

**Two-parter, thus double drabble. Also double quote, apparently, though both are from "The Eye."**

**Don't make Sheppard angry. You don't want to see him when he's angry. Not that you'll see much, considering how you won't even know he's coming for you.**

**I loved John asking himself what McKay would do when he got stuck, so here's my interpretation of the inside of his head. Not pretty, huh?**

**Also: What Would McKay Do - W_WMD_. The pun, it's so punny!**


	10. The Defiant One

_**The Defiant One**_

"_You wanted fieldwork? This, this is fieldwork." –McKay_

* * *

All the way back in that frigid little research station at the bottom of the world, McKay had thought he was doing fieldwork. After all, Antarctica is about as far from civilization as you can get without leaving Earth, right?

And it's not like he never went through the Gate, either. He just didn't go gallivanting off on needlessly dangerous adventures like Carter, that's all. What's the point of risking life and limb? A brain like his can't be replaced, but military-type grunts can. It's as simple as that.

Then came the Atlantis Expedition. Then, he began learning real fieldwork.

* * *

**You'd think, considering the plot, that this episode would've been very Sheppard-focused, but it's really more about Rodney, in my opinion. Specifically, it's on what McKay is becoming as part of Sheppard's team.**


	11. Hot Zone

_**Hot Zone**_

"_Seriously, you have to stop interrupting my last thoughts! This is important stuff you need to hear." __-McKay_

* * *

Zalenka respects McKay.

He'd always held McKay's work in high regard, even before they'd met, but that's different. It took eleven weeks in Atlantis for the Czech to realize he respected Rodney as a person. Eventually, Radek found himself working with McKay as a trusted subordinate, and realized that he didn't mind not being an equal.

Not until the nanovirus incident began did it occur to the other scientists: not only is Rodney their leader in name, but the unlikable Canadian might actually be good at the job.

So, when Zalenka noticed McKay starting to hallucinate, he stared in horror.

* * *

**I wanted to do a bit on Zalenka with "The Storm," but he didn't have a big enough role. That was the first time I noticed he and McKay working together well. Then, when I saw McKay actively being a leader in this episode, it was awesome. **

**The scientists were probably impressed when McKay spent most of his 'last words' on advice for the future rather than freaking out over his impending death. **


	12. Sanctuary

_**Sanctuary**_

"_Human life, quite simply, Doctor Weir, is more fragile than that."_

* * *

Doctors see humanity at its weakest. Granted, people facing death reveal great strength of spirit. On the whole, however, the human body is terrifyingly delicate.

Carson has seen more pain than any man should be witness to, and he could never find the objectivity to distance himself from it all. He cannot forget how close everyone is to being broken beyond repair. All he can do is keep his friends in one piece.

In return, they hold such faith in his abilities that they forget the ever-present specter of death. Most of the time, that's just how Carson likes it.


	13. Before I Sleep

_**Before I Sleep**_

"_Just when you thought this place couldn't get any weirder." –Sheppard_

* * *

Of everything the First Weir said (the title fit too well not to use it), the one that stuck in John's head wasn't his own death, or McKay's, or anyone else's.

He couldn't stop thinking about those six people in the other jumper.

Did they make it? Who were they? Did any of them have the ATA gene? Just the thought of leaving six of his people behind, even if it was by accident, hit all-new levels of disturbing. What must they have thought when the First John Sheppard abandoned them?

Another nightmare for the collection. Just what he needed.

* * *

**I find myself wanting to write a fic of the other six survivors. Two-thirds of the expedition has the ATA gene after Beckett's therapy rounds, but what about before? If they're in a jumper, would they have been able to open the doors to the Gate Room and dial out? Or would they just go up and to the mainland? **

**On the positive side, in that timeline, John never woke the Wraith, so there wouldn't be a threat from them, at least not on the same scale. **

**The downside to trying to write this: McKay, Sheppard, Ford, Carson, Weir, Zelenka, even Grodin are all dead or time-travelling. Of characters that I can remember from Earth in the first season, that just leaves Bates and Kavanagh. Not a fun crowd.**


	14. The Brotherhood

_**The Brotherhood**_

* * *

"_You're a member of MENSA?" _

"_No, but I took the test."_

"_When!?"_

"_You wanna talk about this __**now**__, Rodney?"_

* * *

John never looked this serious. "It's not what you can do; it's what you do with it that makes you who you are."

"What?" McKay sputtered.

Sheppard rolled his eyes. "Technically, I am a genius. But I'm not a scientist. I'm a pilot."

"Yes," Rodney sighed. "And just think what a waste-"

"I am **not** wasting my life," the Major growled. He'd had this argument before.

"If some nut managed to shoot you down, Atlantis wouldn't have the most brilliant military leader I've ever met." And with that, McKay ran off, mumbling about not sleeping and 'two weeks to live.'

* * *

**At some level, having John be a tested ge****nius would make it easier for Rodney to respect him. The intelligence would make up for the military background in his eyes, creating an opening to admit that John is the best at what he does for the same reason that Rodney is the best at what _he_ does. It's objective evidence that they're equals. Not that McKay's ever going to say this to his face unless the astrophysicist is half out of his mind, of course.**


	15. Letters from Pegasus

_**Letters from Pegasus**_

"_Family is important. _

"_I've come to realize that because the people here have become a kind of- surrogate family- to me. Now, I know what you're thinking. I've never really been the poster child for that kind of sentiment, but when one is contemplating one's own demise, one tends to see things more clearly."_

* * *

Ford had a good laugh over McKay's tape, until the bit about family, and actually agreed. Not that Atlantis is a standard family, of course.

The Major handles the cool big bro role, teaching them all how to survive. McKay's the annoying brother who gets teased constantly. Teyla's an adopted sister, from somewhere else entirely but no less one of them. The only truly parental figure had been Sumner. And Beckett, maybe: the concerned uncle. Weir's role is more of elder sister with legal guardian responsibilities.

As for himself, Aiden's the little brother, which isn't as irritating as he expected.

* * *

**I wanted to fit a Ford drabble in here somewhere, but it's been hard. In all honesty, I never really liked Ford. The only times when he got character development up to this point, he was being an impatient jerk of a leader. Oh, well.**


	16. The Gift

_**The Gift**_

"_I have no explanation for any of your special superpowers." _

"_I only have one."_

"_I've seen you fight, my dear."_

* * *

It soon became clear that communicating with Atlanteans requires a working knowledge of their stories and legends. Doctor McKay enjoyed comparing her Gift for sensing Wraith to the 'super powers' of their heroes of legend. What amazes Teyla the most is how these strange people fail to recognize their own 'super powers.'

Carson heals wounds that seem hopeless.

Doctor McKay has abilities that she cannot even comprehend, and their effects are equally bewildering, if undeniably useful.

Major Sheppard's luck and his talent with the Ancestors' relics enabled him to fight the Wraith in ways her people could only dream of.


End file.
